In an article on espn about the afc east, there is a statement that absolutely baffles me and i want to know if anyone has any insight on this. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/notebook?page=lastcall08/week15 3. AFC East logjam Barring an upset, the AFC East should have three teams at 10-5 entering the final week of the season. The Jets host Miami in Week 17, giving Chad Pennington a chance to get his revenge. What's scary for the Jets is how vulnerable they look. The glaring problem is the Jets' run defense. On Sunday, the Bills' Marshawn Lynch had 127 yards on 21 carries, and Fred Jackson had 31 on seven carries. It's possible defensive tackle Kris Jenkins, the anchor of New York's defensive line, might be wearing down. Coach Eric Mangini's defense had to scrap to make enough big plays to salvage a 31-27 victory. Mangini is struggling to find answers to a lot of problems. The Jets' offense relied mostly on short passes, only occasionally trying to get a downfield toss to speedy David Clowney or Laveranues Coles. After suffering West Coast losses to the Chargers, Raiders and 49ers, the Jets are leaving Saturday instead of Friday for their Week 16 game at Seattle. The Dolphins travel to Kansas City in Week 16 after squeaking out a 14-9 victory over the 49ers. The Patriots blew out the Raiders 49-26, and return home to face the Cardinals. Figuring Kurt Warner might commit a few turnovers in the New England chill, the Patriots should win that game. It sets up a great Week 17. The Patriots still have troubles with tiebreakers because of their five conference losses, so everything could be on the line when the Dolphins play the Jets in the Meadowlands. This makes no sense to me. I would think leaving earlier in the week would be of greater benefit so they could adjust to the time and conditions, versus leaving later and suffering from jetlag (which is the only other feasable explanation for there WC problems other than late night partying)
I think the idea was that they left early for the other games so lets change things up since we lost the others.
I think it's overestimated. These guys fly on a private charter, they aren't waiting around for their bags and at the Avis counter. It's a few hours two days before the game, if anything they should be used to it by now.
